PISA 2009: Where does Turkey Stand?, Summer 2011

The dependency ratio (the ratio of the number of children and the elderly to the number of the working-age people) is decreasing significantly in Turkey, offering a very important opportunity for the country to accelerate its socio-economic development. Yet, the opportunity will not last forever: it is expected to close around 2020. The best instrument in the hands of Turkey to turn this opportunity to a real advantage is improving the quality of education of its education services. The results of international tests, however, do not present an optimistic picture: According to the PISA 2009 results released by the OECD in December 2010, Turkey stands as the 32nd among 34 OECD countries, and 40 percent of Turkish 15-year-old students cannot reach basic competence level in mathematical literacy. Moreover, socioeconomic background plays a huge role in determining the success of the Turkish student, and schools are more or less segregated in line with the socio-economic background characteristics of their students. This paper underscores possible reasons and results of this situation, and what alternative future directions Turkey may take if learning outcomes can be improved.

CONTRIBUTOR

Aytuğ Şaşmaz and Nihan Köseleci Blanchy

We are proud to present our readers with this special issue of TPQ, published in collaboration with Atlantic Council IN TURKEY, which revolves around energy dynamics in Turkey and its neighborhood, in the context of a shifting geopolitical landscape. This issue’s authors evaluate key trends and drivers that are shaping the regional energy landscape—from the Caspian to the...